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1974 MK 2 Commando - loose kickstart lever

Submitted by william_downie on Thu, 20/10/2022
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Commando

Has anybody tried widening the gap in the lever at the pinchbolt to get better clamping ? My lever has been slightly loose since new, it never gets worse but is annoying and I can't afford to change both lever and shaft, need the money for heating in the winter !!!!!

Submitted by robert_tuck on Thu, 20/10/2022

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The Usual dodge is to file away a couple of the splines either side of the gap to enable the pinchbolt to do a bigger job. Never tried it myself as I dont  like engines bigger than 600  , cant kick them over !  and  its less strain on the kickstart.

Submitted by john_holmes on Thu, 20/10/2022

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Cutting away a few spines each side of the joint works but there has to be a gap in the joint for that to work. Also once you have a gap the bolt needs to be high tensile so you can tighten it with less stretching of the bolt and more torque being applied to the kickstart lever and the splines. 

Submitted by jonathan_newton on Thu, 20/10/2022

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...because we all suffered back in the day with worn out, kicked to death bargain basement machines or does it go further ?

  The fact that William says "My lever has been slightly loose since new, it never gets worse" seems odd to me. If its moving it would degrade the fit on the spline and magnify itself. 

Is it really the lever moving on the spline, or ovality in the pawl pivot, or the folding part of the lever, the pawl inside the gear not engaging early, return spring set slack?

The remedies mentioned above are all valid, for worn fit.  My only suggestion is if you are going to increase the gap the part that needs reducing should be on the NON threaded side to preserve  as much as you can but also ensure that the bolt is not bottoming out by fitting a washer.

 

Cheers

Jon    

Jon

Removed lever splines are good gap closes up before it tightens up. Gap is 0.050" with plenty of thread left to tighten. I am going to try widening to 0.125" with milling cutter slitting disc equidistant on both sides of gap (won't run out of thread I have checked) Should do the trick.

The original machining has removed the splines at the bottom of the lever hole to clear the bolt path so I am pretty sure it will be OK.

Many thanks for the info.

Bill

Submitted by stan_thomas on Thu, 20/10/2022

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Clamp the end of the kickstart lever in a vice to close up the gap, then run down the slot with an 1mm cutting disc in an angle grider (or hacksaw blade if you prefer). Repeat until it clamps up tight.

Clamp the end of the kickstart lever in a vice to close up the gap, then run down the slot with an 1mm cutting disc in an angle grinder (or hacksaw blade if you prefer). Repeat until it clamps up tight.

As described this will not work, as you cut into the slot the clamping in the vice will clamp the cutting disc!! We need to think again.

Submitted by stan_thomas on Sat, 22/10/2022

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Works fine for me Al. However I do understand your point; perhaps don't get too carried away with the vice handle :)

 



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